Would this be considered using state resources for campaign purposes??? How is CasablancaPA a crime that threatens the citizens of PA??? So, let me get this straight, while Corbett whines about not having enough money in his budget to fight crime, he somehow finds tax-payer money to be so petty as to subpeona the identity of a blogger?? The ONLY threat that Casa poses is to Corbett's CAMPAIGN. Unreal.

You must be getting to him. He wouldn't be so brazen in his pathetic attempts to shut you down otherwise. Keep up the great work.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.Elie Wiesel

The Founding Fathers all used Anonymous names to challenge the tyranny of King George.

Our Founding Fathers wrote 'The Federalist Papers' under pseudonyms.

Inherent in the First Amendment is the right to speak anonymously.

Shouldn't that right extend to the new public square of the Internet?

I feel proud to live in a country where you're not persecuted for your opinions, that right has to be protected.

I guess Corbett is unamerican while Team Casa are true Patriots.

The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution.

The Federalist remains a primary source for interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, as the essays outline a lucid and compelling version of the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government.

The authors of The Federalist wanted both to influence the vote in favor of ratification and to shape future interpretations of the Constitution.

At the time of publication, the authorship of the articles was a closely-guarded secret.

The authors used the pseudonym "Publius," in honor of Roman consul Publius Valerius Publicola.

Hamilton chose "Publius" as the pseudonym under which the series would be written.

While many other pieces representing both sides of the constitutional debate were written under Roman names,

Albert Furtwangler contends that "'Publius' was a cut above 'Caesar' or 'Brutus' or even 'Cato.' Publius Valerius was not a late defender of the republic but one of its founders.

His more famous name, Publicola, meant 'friend of the people.'"

It was not the first time Hamilton had used this pseudonym: in 1778, he had applied it to three letters attacking Samuel Chase.

We've never seen such wild antics since the Pennsylvania Aurora in Philadelphia was prevented from publishing scathing attacks on John Adams when Adams had the Federalist Congress pass the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it a Federal crime to criticize John Adams. Many were locked up by Adams but Thomas Jefferson freed and pardoned every victim of Adams, although a number of those arrested by the Federalist legislation died in prison. The Federalist party died from those self inflicted wounds, never to rise again. (Adams also wanted Senators to be appointed for life and Presidents to serve for life and institute the British system of government as well but after all that brouhaha, Adams wasn't re-elected).

History does tend to repeat itself but I thought NY Times vs. Sullivan settled this kind of thing once and for all. Silly me.

(although if the person doing the blogging is getting confidential info from the grand jury and publishing it, then that person may have some legal problems). Can't say I know enough to answer that question but I see from a google search that all the big tech sites are taking this issue up and seem quite enraged. Many of those guys are strong libertarians so one can see why they're outraged.

This site is going to become superfluous soon though as this story will be all over the internet world wide within a few weeks as it's all over Google News now so it will be picked up by every big paper in the country.

"(although if the person doing the blogging is getting confidential info from the grand jury and publishing it, then that person may have some legal problems)."

I've been following CasablancaPA from the beginning and very closely (I work for House Dems.) There has never been anything posted that hasn't appeared in print or in a publicly available court filing. If someone has seen otherwise, my co-workers and I would love to have it pointed out.

Anon at 3:51 PM wrote: "... although if the person doing the blogging is getting confidential info from the grand jury and publishing it, then that person may have some legal problems)".

I don't know what exactly that commenter is referring to when he/she writes "confidential information from the grand jury". But just so we're clear - under PA law your testimony in a grand jury is not secret nor "confidential" and neither is your appearance. If I testify in front of a grand jury I can walk out of the room and hold a press conference. I can announce that I was in front of the grand jury, what questions I was asked and what answers I gave.

As a subpoenaed witness I would not be bound by any secrecy or confidentiality requirement. I could tell anyone anything I wanted about the process and exactly what was said.

Again, I don't know whether that commenter misunderstands that part of PA law or is referring to some other, undefined "confidential" grand jury information.

With these facts in mind, it's hard for me to imagine what any blogger or twitterer could possibly write about a grand jury that would warrant a subpoena from a law enforcement official - let alone an attorney general who is running for office.

This is outrageous. I hope the main stream media in PA and throughout the country takes on arrogant Corbett and hammers him for these subpoenas.

I stand corrected on the grand jury proceedings. I was speaking about members of the grand jury but I haven't been keeping up with any of this so I do stand corrected that witnesses can talk about their testimony. But I was referring to grand jury members who I thought were supposed to keep what they learn confidential.

The funniest thing I've seen today is that someone anonymously posted the idea that you should man up and stop hiding behind the curtain. The funniest thing I heard yesterday was the guy who appeared in an abstinence video with his mistress. Oh wait, maybe it's the same guy.

Anonymous said...Anon at 3:51 PM wrote: "... although if the person doing the blogging is getting confidential info from the grand jury and publishing it, then that person may have some legal problems)".....

The reason why the OAG prosecutors wanted the Grand Jury kept secret was due to their Unethical and Attorney Disciplinary Code violations of using the F-Word and intimidation tactics.

Many think it will go away by calling Rosepink, Veon and Cott convicted Felons, but it will not, Corbett and his Prosecutors will be held answerable due to their misbehavior and illegal practices.

Attorney General Corbett must show, by an affidavit filed in open court, what acts Attorney General Corbett is investigating, including a factual showing of the reasons to believe that aCrime has been committed, how each of the particular documents that he is trying to obtain bears a substantial relationship to that investigation, and that there are no means less invasive of free speech rights to obtain relevant evidence of the violations of law under investigation.

This is to permit a rebuttal by anyone seeking to challenge Attorney General Corbett secret reasons for seeking out such information to stop critics of him, for him, and by his own actions he claims are legal for him, but illegal for others.

The "teabaggers" will not try to rationalize anything because they didn't support Corbett in the first place. Corbett was elected by the faithful GOP sheep who didn't want to hear anything critical of the chosen one. The TEA party people voted for Rohrer.

You're assuming that Republicans and TEA party supporters are one and the same. They are not. Your criticism should be directed toward the corrupt Pennsylvania GOP establishment that foisted this creep on the people.

i don't know anything about this corbett guy, but i can tell you that as a tea party member - we stand for freedom of speech. people who disagree with our POV have as much right to speak their mind as we do. i can also tell you that many republicans--the progressive ones like mccain and arnold--are so far off base from what the tea party movement is about that people should realize that we don't like progressives and we want them to leave the republican party. they should go start their own progressive bs agenda and leave us out of it.

Corbett declined to comment yesterday on a subpoena from the investigating grand jury to the social networking site Twitter, seeking the identity of the users CasablancaPA and bfbarbie.

An author on the blog posted a link to the subpoena and referred a reporter's questions to Vic Walczak, the legal director the American Civil Liberties Union.

Walczak said he didn't know why Corbett's office is seeking the users' identities, but that the American tradition of anonymously criticizing government officials reaches back to Thomas Paine.

"Any subpoena seeking the identity of critics of public officials raises the specter of political retaliation," Walczak said. "People in this country have a right to criticize government officials and to do so anonymously."

Cott was one of 12 Bonusgate defendants, all connected to Democrats in the state House, accused of conspiring to use state money for political campaign work. Seven of the 12 pleaded guilty; Cott and two others - including onetime House Democratic Whip Mike Veon - were convicted; and two were acquitted.

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence for Cott of 18 to 24 months in prison. His lawyer is pushing for probation.

Contacted via e-mail, both CasablancaPA and bfbarbie declined Thursday to reveal their identities.

A writer on CasablancaPA who goes by "Signor Ferrari" - the unctuous fictional character portrayed by Sydney Greenstreet in the 1942 film Casablanca - e-mailed that he wished to stay anonymous because "we have a constitutionally protected right to criticize public officials anonymously, as do all Americans."

In a lengthy e-mail, bfbarbie said: "I am scared. Scared that a BIG, POWERFUL politician could do such [a thing] to a little person like myself just for talking/twittering."

The ACLU of Pennsylvania is representing the two anonymous tweeters and will try to get the subpoena quashed if an agreement cannot be reached with Corbett's office to withdraw them, said attorney Witold Walczak.

"Anytime you've got the government officer using a subpoena to unmask a political critic, it raises serious First Amendment concerns," Walczak said. "It is a prized American possession to criticize the government and to do so anonymously in the tradition of the Federalist Papers and Mark Twain."

Told that Corbett was using the subpoena to gather information for sentencing purposes, Walczak said: "Using the grand-jury process to get evidence in the aid of sentencing is an abuse of the system. Grand juries are to investigate potential crimes, not aid in prosecution."

John Morris, general counsel for the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology, based in Washington, said most previous attempts to pierce the anonymity of Internet posters have emanated from businesses that want to fight anonymous critics.

"It's an outrageous and astounding abuse of power and one that plainly violates the First Amendment and will not be upheld in court," Morris said Thursday. "There's a clear constitutional right to anonymous speech."

More than a decade ago, a Pennsylvania court ruled in one of the earliest cases involving anonymous online criticism of public officials. In that 1999 case, a state Superior Court judge sued to learn the identity of an anonymous online critic who accused the judge of improper conduct.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that anonymous political speech was protected by the First Amendment.

HARRISBURG - Fresh off his victory in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary, Attorney General Tom Corbett has stepped into a political minefield by using grand-jury subpoenas to try to unmask two of his harshest critics on the Internet.

Earlier this month, Corbett's office subpoenaed the online social networking site Twitter Inc., seeking identifying data on "CasablancaPA" and "bfbarbie." Both daily excoriate Corbett and his office's long-running political-corruption investigation known as Bonusgate.

The subpoena was apparently part of prosecutors' efforts to show one Bonusgate defendant's lack of remorse as he awaits sentencing.

But news of the subpoena unleashed a cascade of criticism from First Amendment and electronic-privacy advocates, who contend that Corbett is engaging in a Big Brotherlike attempt to silence and intimidate people who don't agree with him.

Twitter, based in San Francisco, has declined to turn over the information. The ACLU of Pennsylvania says it will seek to quash the subpoena on behalf of the two anonymous tweeters.

The issue promptly entered the governor's race, with Corbett's Democratic opponent, Dan Onorato - fresh from his own primary victory - saying in Philadelphia that he found it "outrageous" and "unbelievable" that the attorney general would use the powers of his office to subpoena critics.

Kevin Harley, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the subpoena had "nothing to do with limiting critics." He said the office's intent would become clear Friday morning, when Bonusgate defendant Brett Cott has been scheduled for sentencing.

Harley declined to elaborate, citing the secrecy of grand-jury proceedings. But a sentencing memorandum in Cott's case, filed in Dauphin County Court, contained clues: Prosecutors from Corbett's office argued that Cott, who was convicted in March on three of 42 corruption charges, is CasablancaPA.

The prosecutors contended that Cott has shown little remorse for his crimes, as evidenced (among other things) by his alleged postings as CasablancaPA. In addition to being a Twitter account, CasablancaPA is also a blog dedicated to, as it puts it, "exposing the hypocrisy of Tom Corbett."

The prosecutors contended that Cott had used the blog to "deflect blame and deny responsibility for his criminal conduct, and to attack and malign the investigative and prosecutorial process which resulted in his conviction."

They also cited what Cott told reporters after his March 22 conviction on three counts and acquittal on 39 others: "That's it? That's the best he [Corbett] can do? I hope this helps him get elected governor."

there is now a Facebook protest via a page called "Subpoena Me, Tom." People are encouraged to use their Freedom of Speech to tell Tom Corbett what you think of him.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Subpoena-me-Tom/128483617168768?ref=sgm

While you have a right, under the First Amendment, to criticize anyone you want, and do so anonymously, it seems to me that you eventually reach a point when criticism of a specific individual, by name, has become so massive that you really ought to have the courage to identify yourself publicly.

Be a man and step forward: if you are going to criticize someone, have the cojones to do it publicly.

Dana R Pico said...While you have a right, under the First Amendment, to criticize anyone you want, and do so anonymously, it seems to me that you eventually reach a point when criticism of a specific individual, by name, has become so massive that you really ought to have the courage to identify yourself publicly. Be a man and step forward: if you are going to criticize someone, have the cojones to do it publicly.May 21, 2010 6:46 PM

Tell that to Alexnader Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Mason, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson.

Get some brains to understand why every person on earth has a RIGHT TO ANONYMOUS POLITICAL SPEECH,, except in Cuba, North Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and few more Dictatorships or One PArty Contrlled Nations.

All I know is they wanted Brett Cott gone as fast as possible, and they want all postings on Casablancapa to stop revealing things about Corbett campiagn, Prosecutors, and own Campaigning on State Time.

If CasablancaPA goes down we need somemore Blogs on Corbett, they miscalculated, it will not shut down CasablancaPA but will cause 100 to rise.

Tell that to Alexnader Hamilton, James Madison, John Adams, Ben Franklin, George Mason, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson.

Amazing, isn't it, that you know all of their names? They must not have been too anonymous!

Get some brains to understand why every person on earth has a RIGHT TO ANONYMOUS POLITICAL SPEECH,, except in Cuba, North Korea, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and few more Dictatorships or One PArty Contrlled Nations.

Maybe get your own balls and move there!

My own balls are what have me posting under my real name. But hiding behind the right to criticize anonymously strikes me as still hiding; if you have something important to say, then say it, and have enough courage to say it in public.

Adolf Corbett for PA Gov! He is bound to win because name recognition is all that it takes to get elected in PA. And if you are one of legions of judges running for the myriad of appointments open at all levels, just plants the most signs and that will get you name recognition. Just watch as h e launches his second phase of Bonusgate to garner more cowboy justice name recognition for the the general election.

TWITTERS EVERYWHERE WE NEED TO SET UP A BRETT COTT DEFENSE FUND SO WE CAN RAISE MILLIONS TO HIRE THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST ATTORNEY'S IN THE WORLD TO DEFEND AND FREE BRETT COTT FROM THE ABUSES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT BEING USED FOR HIGHER OFFICE.

JUST ONE DOLLAR SENT TO THE DEFENSE FUND, PREFERABLY BY CHECK, TO ACCOUNT FOR IT, AS A SHOW OF SUPPORT, OR CASH ASKING FOR A RECEIPT, CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

THE ONE THING IN AMERICA WHEN YOU HAVE MONEY YOU CAN PROPERLY DEFEND YOURSELF.

THE MONEY WILL GO TO HIRING FORMER PROSECUTORS AND TOP INVESTIGATORS THAT CAN RESEARCH THE ABUSES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA OAG AND THEIR PROSECUTORS AND CORBETT.

LAW STUDENTS THAT CAN VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME WITH LAW PROFESSORS TO POINT OUT THE ABUSES OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GRAND JURY SYSTEM UNDER TOM CORBETT.

PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGNS OF WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DARE SPEAK OUT TO DEFEND YOURSELF ON TWITTER OR BLOGS.

PLEASE I AM NOT RELATED TO BRETT COTT AND DO NOT AGREE WITH EVERYTHING HE BELIEVES OR SAYS, BUT HIS IMPRISONMENT BY CORBETT OAG AND SENTENCE BY JUDGE LEWIS NEEDS TO CHALLENGED AND ONLY MONEY CAN DO IT.

MILLIONS CAN BE RAISED TO STOP THIS KIND OF ABUSE, PLEASE CASABLANCAPA SET UP A CASBLANCAPA DEFENSE FUND.

ONE GROWING PYRAMID OF PROUD TWITTERS PUTTING JUST $1 DOLLAR INTO THE MAIL CAN SEND A BETTER MESSAGE ALONG WITH MILLION OF MESSENGERS AND BRING WORLD ATTENTION TO CORBETT ABUSES OF POWER.

BRETT COTT AND HIS LAWYER CANNOT SPEAK, TWIT, OR DEFEND HIMSELF, SINCE HE IS IN PRISON, BUT WE ALL CAN, BY JUST SENDING $1 DOLLAR!

Send this message with an address all obver the interbnet for all bloggers, twitters, and decent americans looking to savbe america by supporting Brett Cott!

Corbett is bad. Did you know that when Packer Township passed a municipal ordinance regulating sludge disposal, the township was sued by Corbett, as Attorney Geberal, ON BEHALF of the WASTE HAULING INDUSTRY? See Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund site at CELFD.org. This man is a big version of Napoleon!